


Maybe

by Jenanigans1207



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Universe, Character Study, Fluff, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Maybe a smidge of angst?, Relationship Study, but not really, soft, the ebb and flow of their relationship, vent posting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:08:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22870750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenanigans1207/pseuds/Jenanigans1207
Summary: Keith clearly doesn’t know what to say and Lance doesn’t either. He’d spent all these years this close to Keith but making sure they never got closer. Now that he wants to cross that threshold, he doesn’t know how. But it’s his responsibility now, that much he is absolutely certain about. And yeah, maybe he’ll muck up the whole thing, maybe Keith isn’t willing to reach out anymore. Maybe Lance screwed their timing up so colossally that they can never get it back.Or maybe they both just needed to be ready.And maybe now, sitting here, having seen the universe and faced down those demons, they’re ready. Maybe now they’ve grown past their rivalry, past their fear. Maybe they’ve grown into the people they’re meant to be. And maybe, just maybe, the people they’re meant to be are meant to be together. Lance thinks that’s the case, has always secretly thought that was the case.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 88





	Maybe

**Author's Note:**

> This is somewhere between a study of their relationship through the seasons and a vent post.
> 
> Also, if you guys like my works (in any fandom) (and thank you if you do), please consider following me on Instagram! Same name as here: jenanigans1207. I post everything you see here plus more content. There's drabbles for Klance, Ineffable Husbands and my OCs that will never make it to Ao3. There will be drabbles for other ships coming soon, too. I take prompt ideas there, I run polls... it's really just the best way to interact with me and I'd love to see you there!!

And honestly, maybe Lance is only pursuing Allura at this point because it’s the only thing he knows. 

Maybe the only reason he  _ ever _ pursued Allura was because everything else in his life was ripped right out from under him. But flirting with pretty girls? That was something he still knew how to do, something that felt normal and natural. That was a piece of the life he’d left on earth. 

But it wasn’t Allura that haunted his dreams at night. It wasn’t her gorgeous long hair— because she  _ was _ stunning, that was true no matter how Lance felt about her— or the lilt of her laugh. No, when Lance closed his eyes he saw rugged, gloved hands reaching for him. He saw the tilt of Keith’s smile a moment before he turned his head away in a desperate attempt to hide it. When Lance closed his eyes he saw Keith. Always Keith. Only Keith. 

And honestly, that’s the last thing Lance needed. He was suddenly in space, tasked with defending the entire  _ universe  _ in a robot he barely knew how to fly. He had enough going on, he didn’t need to have his first crush on a guy. On  _ Keith _ of all people— the least welcoming person in the world. He was the only one who always rose to Lance’s challenges, spitting fire right back at him. 

Lance tried to convince himself that he only antagonizes Keith because he can’t stand the guy but he knows it isn’t true. He challenges Keith because it’s the only outlet he can find for his growing feelings, the only way he can think to interact with Keith without wearing his heart on his sleeve. Not to mention the fact that he feels like he’s on fire, the electricity between them palpable. It’s intoxicating, honestly, and Lance can’t stop himself from coming back for more. 

But then things shift. Suddenly Lance is the person who knows Keith best, the one closest to his heart. Suddenly their makeshift rivalry has become a genuine friendship and Lance doesn’t know when he blinked because he swears that wasn’t the case a minute ago. But he’s not upset about it, not even a little. And now he’s not even crushing on Keith anymore, he’s downright smitten and things get infinitely more complicated. 

Just like that, Keith needs Lance, reaches out to Lance, opens his heart for Lance. And Lance is there, always there, accepting everything Keith has to give. And he  _ should _ give back, he knows that, but he’s terrified because everything else is still so unsteady he doesn’t feel like he has solid footing. Maybe his friendship with Keith is circumstantial. Maybe Keith will ditch him the moment they touch back down on Earth, friendship a long lost memory. Maybe Keith doesn’t really need  _ Lance _ — maybe he just needs  _ someone  _ and Lance is the only one there. 

He continues to flirt with Allura but there’s no heart behind it. He’s not disappointed when she shoots him down again, no broken heart to nurse or wounds to lick. He doesn’t actually  _ care _ because his entire being is wrapped up in Keith and he can’t bring himself to do anything about it. 

The Universe’s greatest defender, too scared to face his own feelings. Doesn’t quite have a ring to it but it sits heavy in Lance’s heart anyways. 

Life presses on at a breakneck pace and Lance can’t even keep up. He almost dies a few times, barely managing to brush off the emotional trauma that comes with it, certain that it’s going to rise up some day and drag him back down. But he can’t afford that now, can’t give it the time it needs. He presses on, chasing after Keith now. Running, running, running but never catching. 

Because suddenly Keith is gone, he’s joined the Blades. And sure, he has important missions. Yes, he’s making a huge difference but  _ god _ Lance can’t bear to be away from him. It hurts in a way he didn’t know anything could hurt, like someone is slowly siphoning out his soul. It hurts like he lost something essential to his person— a limb, maybe? But then he realizes what it is.

Keith’s gone and he’s missing his heart and everything is wrong. 

At least before, when Keith was by his side, Lance knew which way was up. But not anymore. The days run into each other, the missions blur together, everything feels somehow completely stagnant and utterly out of control at the same time. Lance spends most of the months he’s gone hiding out in his room to avoid the questions, the knowing stares. Allura meets Lotor and she’s happy. Lance is happy for her, but he can’t deny that it makes the emptiness in his chest feel something more akin to loneliness. He ignores it. 

Finally it happens. Finally, after hours, days, months,  _ years _ , Lance cracks. Because Keith is back. Keith is back and he’s alive and well and Lance can’t let him leave ever again. He can’t. He won’t. It will be the absence of Keith that kills him, not the war. 

Keith blows him off and it stings, burns,  _ aches _ all the way to the center of Lance’s bones and he won’t stand for it. Because he  _ can  _ stand again, he has his footing. Keith is back and the world makes sense and Lance is going to tell him because at this point there’s nothing else he can possibly imagine doing. He’s not even scared. Okay, he is, that’s a lie. But life can’t move forward without him doing this and he is absolutely certain of that. 

He intends to start off casual. Maybe ask about space. Or his mom. Or the strange Altean he returned with. He could definitely ask about the giant space wolf who knows how to teleport. There are plenty of things that are completely logical for him to start with. 

So, he starts with none of them. The moment he steps into Keith’s room, lays eyes on Keith who is sitting on the floor, back pressed against his bed and giant wolf in his lap, everything but the all encompassing loneliness leaves Lance and he says “Tell me you’ll never disappear like that again.”

“What?” Keith looks disgruntled. He probably is, he has the right to be. Lance knows he took and took and took but never gave. 

But now— now he has so much to give that he can’t stop it from overflowing. He doesn’t even try to. “Do you know how much I missed you?” The words are jagged like the edges of his heart. “How worried I was about you? The world wasn’t right without you here, Keith.  _ My world wasn’t right!” _

It’s a start, certainly, but it’s not everything he wants to say. Keith is looking at him, eyebrows raised so high that Lance can’t even see them behind his bangs. His hair has gotten longer, but Lance had noticed that the moment he stepped off the ship. That was something Lance has always been good at— noticing things about Keith. 

“Lance, I—“ Keith swallows and Lance doesn’t even try to guess how he’s going to respond. He has no idea. “You missed me?”

“More than anything,” Lance says and he drops to the ground, too, pressing his back against the door. It’s casual, somehow, but also painfully intimate and Lance feels like his bones are poking out through his skin. “Nothing was okay while you were gone. Even the good days, even the victories. They were wrong because you weren’t there. And I can’t— I can’t lose you like that again, man. The war has taken everything else from me. It can’t take you, too. I don’t think I could survive that.”

Keith clearly doesn’t know what to say and Lance doesn’t either. He’d spent all these years  _ this close  _ to Keith but making sure they never got closer. Now that he wants to cross that threshold, he doesn’t know how. But it’s his responsibility now, that much he is absolutely certain about. And yeah, maybe he’ll muck up the whole thing, maybe Keith isn’t willing to reach out anymore. Maybe Lance screwed their timing up so colossally that they can never get it back. 

Or maybe they both just needed to be ready. 

And maybe now, sitting here, having seen the universe and faced down those demons, they’re ready. Maybe now they’ve grown past their rivalry, past their fear. Maybe they’ve grown into the people they’re meant to be. And maybe, just maybe, the people they’re meant to be are meant to be together. Lance thinks that’s the case, has always secretly thought that was the case. 

Now it’s time to find out. 

“I love you,” he says, but he doesn’t look at Keith’s reaction. He says it softly, like it’s a fact, because it is. It doesn’t demand a response from Keith, doesn’t beg Keith to feel the same way. “And I know I’ve done a terrible job showing you that. I know I’ve pushed you away, denied you, hurt you. You can play tough all you want, but I know.” Keith isn’t saying anything, isn’t interrupting, Lance can’t even hear him  _ breathing _ , but it’s fine because the silence spurs Lance on and he needs to get the words out while he can. “I’m sorry for all of that. I could make excuses, but I won’t. The truth is that I was scared, that I wasn’t ready. But then you left and I didn’t even try to stop you. I’ve never regretted something more in my life.”

And there it is, the bare bones of Lance laid out before Keith. His heart opened wide, waiting for Keith to pass judgement. 

“I’m always scared,” Keith finally says, his voice quiet, too. “But I’ve always felt like I could overcome that fear when you were there. You’ve been my impulse control, my salvation.”

“We really are a good team,” Lance replies weakly, finally looking up at Keith’s face. 

Keith is looking at him, staring at him, eyes and heart wide open. He looks vulnerable. He looks earnest. He even looks a little bit relieved, like he’s finally getting the one thing he never thought he’d really get. Maybe he is. “You did hurt me,” he concedes, “but I understand fear and I understand the kinds of things it makes you think. I forgive you for that.” 

The world isn’t crumbling around Lance, it’s not burning to the ground. In fact, it’s being rebuilt at his feet. Great cities rising up, flowers blooming, the blue sky of a new day wide and expansive over his head. This isn’t an ending, it’s a beginning. It’s beautiful and new and Lance revels in it.

“And for the record,” Keith adds, watching Lance’s face closely. There’s a tiny hint of fear there, Lance sees it clearly. But then they lock eyes and he watches Keith push it away, just like he said. “I love you, too. Have for awhile, even after you broke my heart.”

“I’ll never break it again.” Lance swears and it’s the most true thing he has ever said in his entire life. 

Keith smiles, “I won’t leave again, either.”

They stay like that for a moment, just sitting in the silence, bearing the weight of their confessions. It’s still intimate, even if they’re not talking, not moving, not even looking at each other. And suddenly the new world has Keith there, smiling in the warm rays of sun. And he’s still reaching out for Lance because that’s what he does best. 

Finally Lance moves, he comes to sit next to Keith, to rest his head on Keith’s shoulder. He threads his fingers through the soft fur of the wolf who gives him approving licks and moves so he’s lying across both of them. Keith laughs and Lance is so close that he can  _ feel  _ the laugh and this is everything he’s never let himself want. 

As they talk into the night, catching up, twining their fingers together and getting closer, closer, so close, Lance thinks that maybe being whole isn’t what someone needs to be in love. Maybe all they need to do is find someone else who’s broken, their edges fitting together like puzzle pieces. 

Or maybe, he thinks as Keith finally kisses him, there’s no real rhyme or reason to it whatsoever. And all of these thoughts sit equally well with him because in the end he got the one thing that he ever really wanted and that’s all that matters. 


End file.
